This article is from page 4 of the 2014-01-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
AT AROUND 6.30am on Friday morning John O’Connor grabbed his two children and ran upstairs to safety.
It was pitch dark, so all the young family knew for certain was that there was water waist high in their home.
The former Kilmurry Ibrickane footballer’s family were terrified, and unsure himself what had just happened, he called his next door neighbour Danny McCarthy.
It was only then that Danny realised that the sea had engulfed the homes along the coast road at Tromoroe Castle, Seafield. He waded through the water, which was now waist high on a man, and towards the next-door house. The whole of the downstairs of the house, which had just been fitted with a new extension, was under water.
“We didn’t know was the sea still coming because we were up to our waist because it was dark. It was frightening. It was terrifying for the children,” said Mr McCarthy.
“John, his wife and the children were up stairs and that is what saved them. This really, really was seri- ous.”
The men called the Kilkee Coast Guard, who brought a raft in the front door and took the children to safety.
“Since then I can’t sleep or nothing,” said a very upset Mr O’Connor, who has still not been able to return home as the sea continued to break on the back of his house, his gardens and the nearby field he had transformed into a football pitch for his children gone.
“The kids keep asking when will they go back into their house, I don’t know will we ever be able to go back in,” he added, the enormity of the situation hitting home.
Danny and his partner and daughter were also evacuated, and he remains hopeful the sand bags will safe some of the rooms from the flooding.
He praised the work of the Kilkee Coast Guard.
“They were here in half an hour. They gave us confidence and a sense of security,” he said.
The local community of Kilmurry Ibrickane has also rallied around offering sheltered to those displaced with the natural disaster.